


Enter the Dragon

by Moontyger



Category: Pillars of Eternity, Shadowrun, Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Genre: (Mostly) Shadowrun setting, Crossover, Gen, Shadowrun: Hong Kong characters cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 06:06:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5528843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moontyger/pseuds/Moontyger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kindly Cheng had another team of Shadowrunners.  This is their story.</p><p>Or, what you get when you toss two video games in a blender, add a dash of the tabletop setting, and press start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enter the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Andraste](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste/gifts).



Kindly Cheng's mahjong parlor would never be one of Edér's preferred locations for learning the details of a job. It wasn't the smell – that was foul, but you got used to it faster than you might think. And it wasn't the way she drank in front of them without offering to share; from the look of her liquor, Edér was pretty sure that was a mercy. He'd have to be desperate or at least close to it before he'd want to drink **that**. No, it was the way she looked at him that made his skin crawl. He'd heard the expression about undressing someone with your eyes, but he'd never really known what it meant in any sense but the theoretical until he'd met Auntie Cheng. She didn't even try to hide it, just stared at him and Aloth as though they were pieces of meat and she was thinking of taking a bite. It made him uncomfortable and he didn't like feeling uncomfortable, especially not when talking about work.

At least he didn't have to do the actual talking. Watcher was a strange one, no doubt about that, but she did her part when negotiating with a Mr. Johnson well enough, and that included Auntie. 

“You came to me because you were seeking information on the Black Lodge, information you had been unable to obtain elsewhere,” Kindly Cheng was saying, speaking to Watcher though her eyes never left Edér for long. “It seems finding your answers will be beneficial to us both.”

“I'm listening.” Watcher sounded bored, but she always sounded like that when she was negotiating about a run.

The image Auntie showed them next was peculiar. For one thing, it was both still and flat, an old-fashioned photo instead of trideo. For another, the woman pictured was the oldest person Edér had ever seen, so old that he couldn't even begin to guess at her actual age. At the very least, he was certain this was a woman of the Fifth World, not the modern era. She was clearly human and what hair she had was thin and white, yet still carefully brushed and styled. Her impossibly wrinkled skin was nearly as white as her hair and appeared to be even thinner, seemingly almost transparent with age. But she was standing on her own without a cane or walker in sight and dressed in a modern business suit, her back ramrod straight and her expression closed and professional. 

“This is Lady Webb. The title is an affectation, but if she has another name, it has never been recorded. This is also the only image of her my sources could find.”

Watcher looked at the image, then up at Auntie. Edér couldn't see it from where he was standing, but he'd worked with Watcher long enough to know that while she was looking in Auntie Cheng's direction, her eyes would be unfocused as she searched the Matrix for any information on this ancient woman. “How is she relevant?”

“Lady Webb's business is secrets. Among them, or so I hear, is the information you seek.”

Watcher crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “Say we believe you and act on this lead. What do you get out of it?”

“Why, I thought that was obvious.” Auntie poured herself another shot and drank it down, adding the glass to her stack of empties before continuing. “As I said, she deals in secrets and I want you to steal some of them for me.”

* * *

Lady Webb operated out of a building known as Dunryd Row; that information had been readily obtainable. What hadn't been were any hints of plans for the building and looking at it, Edér thought he was beginning to understand why. Despite a prime location in one of the better areas of Hong Kong, Dunryd Row looked to be at least as old as the woman whose secrets they were here to steal. It could not have been above four stories tall and it was built in an early _tong lau_ style: a strange blend of European and Chinese elements that spoke of an occupation long since over.

“But this is fascinating!” True to form, Kana was so distracted by the unusual building that he seemed to have forgotten their job entirely. “So few of these buildings are still standing, especially in this area. I had no idea we were going to be so fortunate as to go inside one.”

“But how is it still here?” Pallegina asked. “A building such as this should have been torn down long ago.”

Itumaak whined in a surprisingly lifelike fashion and Sagani reached out to pat the little drone. Edér wished she hadn't programmed it to act so much like a real animal; it always made him want to pet it, but then he'd realize it was a machine and feel stupid. “At least it shouldn't be hard to find what we're looking for,” she commented.

“Now you've gone and done it.” Watcher shook her head at her, or maybe at all of them. “If you're all done staring, let's get started.”

Watcher took point, as always, and Edér and Pallegina guarded her back. Auntie Cheng had gotten her the uniform of a high-security courier service and they'd come up with documents that would pass at least casual muster. Once inside, they'd have to let the rest of them in from the balcony without setting off any alarms.

“Important package for Casŵen.” Watcher had assumed her best professional tone: she sounded like a woman who knew her business and wanted to get it over with. She'd done her best to look the part, too, tucking her braids with their distinctive multicolored fiber optic strands into a hat and hiding her augmented eyes behind mirrored sunglasses. Everything about her said that she was just another corporate drone trying to do her job, nothing to see here.

And the receptionist didn't seem to see a reason to look closer. “Second floor, office in the right corner.” She handed Watcher an electronic keycard. “This will get you to the second floor. The elevator is just behind me.”

With her watching them, they had to head directly for the elevator and take it to the second floor as instructed. Once in the office they'd been directed to, Watcher distracted the security system while Pallegina signaled that it was safe for the rest of the group to scale the side of the building with the climbing equipment they'd brought and enter from the open balcony. 

Once everyone was safely inside the building, they all crowded into the absent executive's office and waited for Watcher to finish up. No matter how many times he saw it, Edér thought he'd never get used to watching her work. He knew what she was doing and that it wasn't actually much different from what a decker would have done, but all the rest of them saw was her leaning heavily against the wall, eyes unfocused and hands moving, but in response to nothing they could see. She didn't have trodes or AR gloves and while she carried a deck, it was only for show, and she'd long since ceased to bother pulling it out when no one besides their small team could see - everything that most people needed to access the Matrix was superfluous for her. It was a little creepy if he thought about it, so he mostly tried not to.

They stood there in an uneasy silence, trying not to shuffle their feet or be visibly (or more accurately, loudly) impatient as they waited. Watcher didn't need the distractions and they needed her work to succeed. If she couldn't find a way past security, they'd come here for nothing.

“All right,” she said at last. “Looks like where we're going is underground.”

“Underground? Here?” 

Aloth sounded doubtful and Edér didn't blame him, but that wasn't the important question. “Can you get us in?”

“I think so. There should be another elevator on the opposite side of this floor. We'll need to take that.”

They formed up into a tight group and headed out. Edér couldn't speak for anyone else, but he felt jumpy, inclined to watch every shadow as though armed guards might emerge from it at any second. He always felt that way while working, at least a little – after all, a runner who wasn't paranoid was a dead runner. But while sneaking around a building in areas they were obviously not supposed to be in was always dicey, something about this whole setup felt wrong. This building, that image of an impossibly ancient woman – what was really going on here?

But whatever he felt, he didn't say anything about it, because it was just a feeling: a tension in his shoulders and a sinking in his gut that told him they'd been made when there was no outward sign of an alarm. He wasn't even Awakened to have feelings that might mean something more significant and therefore be worth mentioning. Probably he was just tired or maybe he was getting too old for this life, ready to take that last big score and retire to a quiet obscurity that didn't require constantly looking over his shoulder.

The elevator Watcher led them to was smaller than the previous one and it lacked the usual amenities intended to impress members of the general public with the company's money and power. The walls and floor were bare steel, no carpet or fake wood paneling to make it feel less like a cell, and the doors slid shut with an ominously final-sounding thunk.

Edér swallowed hard and Itumaak whined again. Everyone else just looked nervous.

But while the elevator sounded as if it were going to give out at any second, nothing happened. They didn't fall to their deaths, no alarms sounded, and no one attacked them. The car came to a stop on floor B2, just as expected, and the doors slid open after the familiar ding. They all filed out, though Edér noticed they were standing a bit closer together than was strictly necessary. Dunryd Row had them all spooked, even if none of them would talk about it because there was nothing rational about the feeling, nothing they could point to as so suspicious that fear was justified.

It didn't help that this floor was darker than the previous one. There were lights, but they were fewer, and the floor was cheap linoleum instead of the high quality burgundy carpet of the second floor. Whatever happened down here, it wasn't somewhere the public ever came.

They waited, looking expectantly at Watcher. Edér had never been much of a leader; if it weren't Watcher, he'd have been following someone. But being this dependent on someone else during a run still made the area between his shoulder blades itch, like someone was lining up a shot right there. But when he looked over his shoulder, the hallway remained as silent and deserted as it had been when they exited the elevator.

“This is as far as the elevator will take us. From here, we take the stairs.” Watcher's voice seemed to echo slightly, though probably that was just Edér's nerves. This hallway was big enough that Kana didn't have to duck, but it wasn't so large that sounds should echo.

“Down even further? I hadn't thought that was possible!” Kana grinned, tusks jutting in a way that would have seemed threatening to someone who didn't know him. Edér just shook his head; Kana got excited over the strangest things.

But even Kana couldn't be excited about the stairs in question. They were wooden and narrow and they looked as old as the building, with a flimsy railing that offered little in the way of protection from a fall. Edér wasn't sure they'd support _his_ weight, much less that of a troll. They all paused there, staring down into the darkness. The lighting here was even worse than in the hallway, fluorescents flickering in a way that seemed almost deliberately creepy and left the bottom of the stairwell lost in shadow.

“Well, we can't turn back now, can we?” Kana was striving for his usual cheerful tone, but that only made the strain in his voice more obvious. Still, he was at least trying to put up a good front. “I'll go on ahead.”

Kana was no kind of scout: he was too big to sneak and too prone to distraction to notice the most important details even if the enemy somehow managed to overlook a troll coming right for them. But under the circumstance, no other option seemed practical. Kana went first, and they all made sure they were at least two steps behind, just in case the stairs collapsed.

They descended like that for what felt like hours, stairs creaking ominously with the stress of their passage but holding firm. Sagani was the first to break down and call for a rest, which would have been surprising if it had been anything but stairs. Their rigger had long ago proved the truth of the rumors about dwarven stamina and rarely let her shorter legs slow them down, but these stairs had been designed with humans in mind. As tired as Edér felt, he knew it must be worse for Sagani. 

“I don't understand how these stairs just keep going,” Pallegina complained, her voice a little uneven from the exertion.

“It doesn't make any sense,” Kana agreed. “I think I'd like to talk to her civil engineer. We should be completely underwater by now. How does Lady Webb keep this underground area dry?”

They were all silent as they considered the matter, though Edér didn't think about it too deeply. He didn't see the point; he was just a street samurai without any sort of real education. He wouldn't know how to even begin to approach the problem unless it involved cracking heads.

“Maybe she doesn't,” Aloth said at last.

“What do you mean?” Edér asked.

“What if these stairs aren't real? We've gone down twenty-three flights of stairs and we haven't seen any doors or met a single guard. A real staircase this long would have patrols.”

“I see! You're suggesting the staircase is an illusion designed to keep intruders like us out. Quite a novel security measure.”

“And an effective one, given the time we've spent on it.” Kana might have sounded impressed, but Sagani was emphatically not.

“All right, I guess that makes sense – at least as much as anything else. But if it's an illusion, how do we break it?”

Edér had asked the obvious question, but once he'd said it, they all fell silent again. He'd have felt bad about it if he hadn't been well past wanting to get on with things other than the endless monotony of one foot after the other. It was no good realizing it was a trap if they couldn't escape it.

“I could try to dispel it,” Aloth offered, but he sounded doubtful even as he made the suggestion. 

“What if we jumped?”

If it had been anyone but Watcher who made the suggestion, Edér doubted they'd have taken it seriously. But she had a knack for the sort of insights that, while inexplicable, nonetheless had proved the solution a time or two too many to be dismissed.

This time, however, they hesitated. Edér looked over the railing and tried to imagine jumping, but every instinct screamed that that would be suicide.

“What an interesting solution!” Kana said, somehow sounding sincere rather than patronizing. “The illusion isn't prepared for someone to jump, so it won't be able to cope. It's breaking it by brute force, but it just might work.”

“Great idea,” Edér echoed, hoping he didn't sound as sick as thinking about it made him feel. “But who's going to try it?”

“I could send Itumaak,” Sagani offered. She was protective of her drone, but also practical enough that Edér wasn't surprised she'd gone for the obvious suggestion.

But Aloth shook his head. “I don't think a machine would work. Illusions are primarily made to affect living beings; even if Itumaak saw through it, that wouldn't allow us to do so. I don't like to suggest it, but I think we all need to do it.”

Everyone looked to Watcher, hopeful that she had an alternative to offer, but she just nodded her agreement. So they all gathered at the edge of the stairs and stared into the abyss.

Jumping, or rather falling, would be easy for Sagani. With them all standing pressed against the railing like this, it was obvious that she was small enough to fit through the gaps without any extra effort on her part. It wouldn't be that simple for the rest of them. Edér took a deep breath, then swung one leg up and over the railing. Another breath and a short mental lecture about not being a coward, then he awkwardly pulled himself up so he was sitting on it. It made an alarming crunching noise once he got fully settled on it, but it held, at least for the moment. Looking down from this precarious seat with nothing between him and a long drop but his sweaty grip on the old wooden rail brought his heart into his throat, but if it was the only way, what choice did he have? 

One final deep breath, after which he carefully failed to look around to make sure everyone else was following suit, then he leaned forward slightly, just enough to tip him off balance, and let go.

He'd closed his eyes, so he couldn't tell how long he fell or what there might have been to see on the way down. But while it felt like a long time, at last his feet landed on something solid. Edér bent his knees to take the impact and put a hand down to brace himself, but he hadn't hit nearly hard enough for it to have been the dangerously long drop it had seemed.

The floor they stood on now was bare rock with nothing to camouflage or soften it. The room was round and devoid of furnishing, but ahead of them was a huge arch, tall enough that the top troll of three standing on one another's shoulders wouldn't have needed to duck their head. In that arch was a double door that appeared to be made of gold, though it was probably only painted to look that way. (Edér hoped it was only painted to look that way. The alternative suggested that this was someone or something they really should not be messing with.) Standing before it as though posing for some sort of tourist brochure was a young Chinese woman. Her hair was elaborately braided and she was dressed in a bright blue cheongsam rather than the suit Edér would have expected of someone who had to be a corporate employee. 

She bowed to them slowly and deeply, her expression grave. “Lady Webb will see you now.” 

She didn't touch the doors, nor did she press any buttons or make any motion that might have affected them that Edér could see. Nonetheless, the doors began to open.

Behind them lay a dragon. Her (or so Edér assumed given the name; he wasn't quite sure how to tell sex on a dragon) scales were the same vivid blue as her servant's dress and her eyes were huge, golden, and looking straight at them.

“ _That's_ Lady Webb?” Aloth sounded like he was about to faint and Edér could hardly blame him. 

“You'd think someone would have mentioned she was a dragon.” He was surprised how normal his voice sounded, like he came face-to-face with dragons every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

“What makes you think I'd allow them to mention it?” Lady Webb asked, and they all winced. Her voice was cultured and her words perfectly comprehensible, but while she didn't seem to be shouting, she was _loud_. 

Watcher stepped in front of them, her back straight and proud. Her very stance was both possessive and protective, claiming this small team of shadowrunners as her own. “Why have you allowed us to come here?”

“Ah, you noticed.” Lady Webb exhaled a long plume of steam and bared intimidatingly large teeth in what might have been intended to be a smile. “Good, that's a promising sign. I have need of a team of such as yours.”

“What could we possibly do for someone like you?” Sagani's hand was resting on Itumaak, though which of them that was intended to reassure was not at all clear.

Kana, on the other hand, sounded almost reverent. “I've always wanted to work for a dragon.”

“As you can imagine, it is difficult for me to investigate certain matters in person. To that end, I've always found it expedient to hire outside help.”

“This is sounding better and better! What do you want us to investigate? I hope it involves something ancient.”

Edér rather hoped it wouldn't, though Lady Webb's answer wasn't much better.

“I need you to go into the Walled City.”

Watcher was back in professional mode, as though Lady Webb were just a Mr. Johnson like any other. “And what is it you want us to do there?”

“Infants in the Walled City are being born without souls – Hollowborn, they're calling them. I need you to find out why.”

“What could do something like that?” It took a lot to shock Edér these days, but that was enough to do it. He'd seen a lot of terrible and inexplicable things, but an infant without a soul was something else.

“What could kill a god?” Lady Webb asked pointedly in return. “You tell me.”

 _What could kill a dragon?_ Edér thought, but was just slightly too wise to say. Oh, it had been done, but he wasn't such a fool as to think it was easy, nor so stupid as to think he'd survive taunting one to her face.

“If we take the job,” Watcher said, “what about Kindly Cheng? We work for her.”

“No need to worry about that. I'll take care of it.” Edér was sure they all wondered just what “taking care of it” entailed, but no one asked, probably because they weren't sure they wanted to know the answer.

“Then there's still the matter of payment, as well as housing. Auntie Cheng was providing our former lodgings and I doubt she'll continue to do so if we aren't working for her. She isn't known for making that sort of gesture merely out of the kindness of her heart.” Watcher stubbornly stayed on topic, concentrating on the important things instead of getting sidetracked by the surreal situation. Edér was impressed, but then again, this was why she was the one in charge.

“Then you will stay here; there should be plenty of room. Eydis will make the arrangements. You may also submit to her your normal rates for payment upon success. Now, if there are no more questions, I have other matters to attend to.”

Watcher clearly wanted to argue about the money, but thought better of actually trying it. Thus dismissed, they left the dragon's lair, not quite hurrying but not walking at their normal pace either. Once they were all outside, the golden doors swung shut behind them, a deep boom echoing throughout the building as they fell into place. 

The young woman was still waiting, her expression devoid of impatience despite the time they'd taken. She bowed again, the movement practiced and smooth. “If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your rooms.”

“You're Eydis?” Watcher asked.

“Yes. I have the honor of serving in place of Lady Webb, should she need to make a public appearance.” Edér supposed that meant she was probably the replacement for the woman Kindly Cheng had shown them, but it didn't seem prudent to ask. 

The staircase they ascended this time was made of some kind of iridescent stone and felt quite solid, but something about the smooth spiral shape and elaborately carved railings made it seem delicate, maybe even fragile. It led to another archway, but this one was open, and through it they could see a long hall lined with doors.

“Pick any room you like,” Eydis said. “I'll check on you tomorrow to see if you need anything.”

It was strange to have a room of his own; stranger still to have it be simultaneously so old-fashioned and so luxurious. The bed was large enough for four people and Edér thought the sheets were silk, though he couldn't be sure because he didn't think he'd ever seen actual silk. But technology was minimal, or maybe just cleverly hidden, and there didn't seem to be any Matrix access at all.

It might look like something from the previous century, but the shower had great water pressure and the bed looked comfortable. After everything that had just transpired, that seemed more than good enough to Edér. He got cleaned up, then crawled between the sheets, stretched out, and sighed. Yeah, this was nice. Weird, and he might start freaking out about it if he thought about it too hard, but nice.

He was almost asleep when he heard the door open. A thought was all it took for his synaptic booster to have him alert and ready, pistol cradled in his hands and a round already chambered before he recognized the footsteps and flicked the safety back on. “Don't sneak up on me like that! After a day like today, you're likely to get shot and then I'd feel real bad.”

“Sorry.” Watcher climbed into bed with him without asking for permission, the sound of her movements strangely unfamiliar on the slick sheets.

Edér put the gun away before he rolled over and pulled her close. He hadn't been sure she'd be joining him; she didn't always and today had been long and peculiar in more ways than one.

“You sure about this?” he asked her.

“We weren't exactly in a position to refuse.” Which was true enough – how did you say no to a dragon?

“Not exactly what I was expecting when we came here.” Edér kissed her shoulder experimentally, but Watcher didn't respond, so he left it alone. He'd been going to sleep anyway and he didn't mind if she were only offering company. Besides, she was the one who made the decisions in this whatever-it-was between them; she chose when and where and what they did. She'd made that clear to him from the beginning and he didn't push her. Watcher wasn't the kind of person you could own. None of them were, really – it was why they were runners in the first place. Well, that and bad luck.

Sometimes Edér wondered about the future, things like what kind of future he could really have with someone whose real name he didn't even know. But most of the time he knew better. The future was one thing you couldn't count on in the shadows; now was all they had, so he made the most of it.

* * *

The next morning, Eydis showed them the kitchen and dining room and pointed out the exits. She made sure they saw the kitchen was fully stocked – stocked, in fact, with more food than Edér had ever seen in one place before – and repeated her offer to supply them with any material assistance they required to fulfill Lady Webb's request. 

“How will we contact you?” Watcher asked, as they'd seen no communication devices and she hadn't offered them a commlink number. 

Eydis merely smiled. “Ask for me and you will be heard.” With that creepy pronouncement hanging heavy in the air, she left, leaving them all to look at each other uncomfortably.

“Well,” Edér said at last. “I guess Lady Webb lives up to your name, Watcher.”

Watcher gave him a dirty look, but there wasn't much she could say to that.

Breakfast was a rather haphazard affair, as they soon discovered that while there was a lot of food, most of it required cooking and none of them were particularly skilled at that. Cooking, especially on a stove, required a real kitchen and who had that these days? Besides Lady Webb, apparently, and probably executives. Edér managed rice and Kana fried some soymeat while Sagani figured out the soycaf maker and they called the results good enough.

“I suppose the logical place to start is inside the Walled City. We'll need to have a look at these Hollowborn for ourselves.” Aloth said what they were all thinking, though he didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about it.

That, as Edér discovered, was because Aloth had good sense. Edér had heard about the Walled City, but he'd never before been inside. Looking around, he wished that pattern had continued. It had been a sunny day when they left Dunryd Row, but it seemed darker here, like there was some kind of haze blocking out the light even though Edér couldn't see anything of the sort when he actually looked for it.

The people weren't exactly friendly either, though you couldn't really blame them when strangers came into their home and started asking about their children. It was only natural that they'd be defensive. Of course, it seemed less natural when they started offering to sell those children, without even inquiring what they wanted with them. Edér looked around at the dire poverty these people were living in and tried not to judge, but he couldn't entirely keep from it. His parents had been plenty poor, but they would never have considered selling their kids. 

None of the children they saw seemed to be lacking souls, however, and no one wanted to talk about the problem until finally, one elderly man took pity on them. “Babies like you're asking about, they mostly end up in the harbor. But I might know a family or two trying to raise them.” He wouldn't give them names, but after they slipped him a few nuyen, he took them to see one of the families.

They weren't living much better than anyone else in this part of the city, but they had four walls and a roof that was mostly intact. It could have seemed almost normal, at least for SINless who didn't have the skills to run the shadows, except the room was stifling hot and crowded, plus they didn't have indoor plumbing. Edér did his best not to inhale the stink. But they did have a cradle shoved off in a corner and inside lay a baby – a baby who might have been the most disturbing thing they'd seen yet on a day full of them. It was alive, the little chest rising and falling as it breathed, but it didn't cry and its eyes were completely blank. If it saw them or even noticed when Sagani picked it up and held it in her arms, it gave no sign of it. This wasn't passive acceptance; it was a complete lack of reaction.

Watcher asked the woman who seemed to be the mother about the infant and about Hollowborn in general while Aloth and Kana examined it magically. When they were done, she paid the woman for her time and they left. They didn't discuss it, but they all turned their steps toward the gate that led out of the Walled City and back to the rest of Hong Kong. After seeing their first Hollowborn, no one felt up to continuing.

They brought street food back to Dunryd Row, where they ate it at real wood tables in a room so fancy that it was hard to imagine other people had eaten something so mundane as takeout here. It wasn't until after they were done that anyone tried to discuss what they had seen, as though they sensed they needed their strength to even talk about it.

“What did you find?” Watcher asked.

“Physically, the baby is basically fine,” Aloth replied, tone as neutral as if he were discussing something purely academic and not at all connected to living, breathing people. “Malnourished, but that's only to be expected.

“And the rest?” Sagani had something small in her hands, turning it over and over as she spoke, but her blunt dwarven fingers obscured it enough that Edér couldn't see what it was.

Kana took over the explanation, as though he and Aloth had worked it out between them who would speak, though they had had no opportunity to do so. “It's like we were told: there's no soul. The child is not only empty, but the few spirits I could find in that place couldn't see the baby at all. To them, that cradle was empty, like the child didn't really exist.”

Aloth leaned forward in his chair, face even paler than usual and his eyes intent on Watcher's. “Be that as it may, I don't think there's anything wrong with the baby. I think it's the location. Something about the Walled City itself is producing this effect, or maybe someone inside it.”

“That makes sense,” Kana agreed. “There were fewer spirits there than there should be, and the ones I found seemed somehow twisted, maybe even malformed. It was as though there were some kind of barrier, something keeping them from manifesting. A barrier strong enough that even those who made it through were damaged by their passage. Maybe the same thing is preventing the children's souls from finding their bodies.”

“Do you think it could be some kind of natural phenomenon?” Pallegina asked. She had her sword on table before her and she was oiling it with almost religious intensity, despite the fact that it couldn't have been used since the last time she'd done so.

“There's nothing natural about that place.” Edér hadn't meant to speak; the words seemed to just emerge all on their own.

“He's right,” Kana agreed. “Surely you felt it: the heaviness of the air, the shadows darker than they should be for the time of day? That wasn't just in your imagination.”

“If that was real, what could cause that?” Watcher asked.

“I don't know. A toxic shaman, perhaps? It's not something I've seen before.”

“But I'm not sure that's necessarily what's causing the Hollowborn,” Aloth put in. “It might be some sort of secondary effect of the larger corruption, but it could also be someone piggybacking on it, using that effect to fuel this one.”

Watcher nodded. “All right. I'll dig up whatever I can find on the history of the Walled City. You two ask any contacts you have that might know something about either the area or this sort of magical corruption. The rest of you rest up. We're heading back in there tomorrow.”

Resting up was easier said than done. Edér was no good at research, but without the Matrix or trid access, he found himself with no other way to pass the time. He stretched a little to ease the ache in his legs from all the stairs yesterday – illusionary or not, the muscle fatigue was still real. Then he wandered the halls aimlessly, only to find there was nowhere to go. These rooms must connect to the public parts of Dunryd Row somehow, but if so, that connection was cut off. Maybe it was hidden behind another illusion.

Finally Edér gave up on trying to find something to do inside and went for a walk. He was starting to feel like a caged tiger just wandering around in there; he even thought he might be beginning to understand what people meant about a gilded cage. Their new living space was luxurious, far more so than anywhere he'd ever lived previously, but it was also stifling.

It was only natural that he found himself back in Heoi. Dunryd Row's immediate surroundings were too upscale for the likes of him; he stood out and he knew it. Even if he hadn't, the glares of private security manning the nearby buildings would have made the situation clear. So he headed back to the old stomping grounds, not bothering to think about all the reasons he shouldn't.

And once there, it wasn't exactly unexpected that he ran into people he knew. Edér saw Is0bel and Gobbet standing just outside the Bolt Hole and started to call out to them, but stopped himself when he remembered that they still worked for Kindly Cheng and he didn't.

He might as well not have bothered; they saw him and came over anyway. It might have seemed like any other evening, except that their approach made him feel nervous in a way it wouldn't have before. 

“I hear you've got a new employer,” Is0bel said by way of greeting.

“That's about the size of it,” Edér agreed. “Is Auntie pissed off about it?”

“I've never seen her so mad,” Gobbet commented. “What are you doing back here? I never thought you were the suicidal type.”

“Does that mean you've got orders to kill me?” Edér thought he could take the two of them if it came to it, but that was assuming half of Heoi didn't join in.

“No. Whoever you're working for now must be a real big shot. Auntie's pissed, but she's scared, too – too scared to give the order.” Is0bel was looking at him curiously and Edér tried to keep his expression blank. He still remembered what Lady Webb had said about people who told the truth about her.

“But that doesn't mean someone won't try it anyway, just to get in her good graces,” Gobbet pointed out.

She was right and Edér knew it. He found it annoying, but that didn't change anything. They chatted a little more, the two of them carefully not asking questions and him trying just as hard not to hint at answers, then he turned around to go back to Dunryd Row. No point in lingering when it might get him shot. Boredom wasn't something he was exactly fond of, but there were worse things. At least he was still alive to feel it.

* * *

The next morning, he found Watcher and the two mages bent over a hardcopy map of the Walled City. Aloth was drawing on it with what looked to be a gold gel pen, while Kana argued with him about the accuracy of his drawings and Watcher, well, watched, peering over Aloth's shoulder with interest but not saying much herself. Edér didn't bother to even go over there; he'd learned awhile ago that magic business wasn't his business and it was best to stay out of it. Having your god or someone who claimed to be him murdered tended to convey that message, along with a whole bunch of others nearly as unwelcome.

Instead he did his best to produce something edible from the supplies in the kitchen. Even the stuff they'd used yesterday had been replaced, which he figured meant it mattered less if he screwed up. Lady Webb clearly meant it when she'd offered to provide for them; in that respect, she was the best employer they'd ever had. 

He caught himself thinking that maybe it would be better if they took their time on this one, just so they could stay here longer. Of course, he'd want to do something about the technology level, but other than that, Edér thought he'd enjoy being here long enough to get used to this sort of luxury. But tempting as that sounded, it would probably be a mistake. He didn't want to be the one to tell Lady Webb that they hadn't found an answer yet and he doubted Watcher wanted to do it either. Not to mention that the more they got used to this, the harder it would be when they had to leave it.

The day outside was overcast, which after yesterday, Edér figured probably meant the Walled City would be even darker. It was stifling, too, the air stagnant with the sort of humid breathlessness that meant a storm wasn't far off. If it were up to him, they'd have called it off, gone back underground to wait out the weather, but Watcher shook her head when Aloth asked and waved them on.

They hadn't been inside the Walled City for long when the rain started, fat drops that burned a little when they hit bare skin and sizzled on the filthy broken pavement. Edér hunched inside his armored trench coat, turning the collar up in the vain hope of keeping himself at least somewhat dry, and hoped they'd be able to go back to their temporary home soon.

He didn't understand what they were doing here today, but that wasn't such a surprise. He wasn't here to understand, just to watch their backs as Aloth and Kana led them on a winding path through narrow stinking streets still crowded despite the weather and strewn with the sort of trash no one with sense wanted to look at too closely.

Edér was thoroughly soaked by the time they found even a trace of what they were looking for. A coat could only do so much when its owner insisted on standing out in the pouring rain for hours on end without even an umbrella. He was looking behind them to be sure they weren't being followed, though how he'd be able to tell in this storm was an open question, so he didn't even see it at first. But while the storm was loud, Kana's cry of discovery was louder. 

Edér turned his head just in time for a lightning flash to illuminate what had Kana so excited. It appeared to be a crude drawing on the corner of a building, the sort of thing Edér would have dismissed as the work of a child had he come across it on its own. The lines that made up the figure were thick and white, nearly blending into the dingy gray concrete of the building. In fact, upon closer inspection, they looked like they had been made with chalk, except for the fact that they appeared entirely unaffected by the rain. 

Edér could hear Kana talking, but he had to lean closer to make out the words. “Yes, of course! This must be how they did it. This symbol is taking part of the energy of the original spell and redirecting it.”

Watcher nodded and Edér hoped she really understood and wasn't just being polite. “All right, but where is it being redirected?”

“It's not so much as 'where' as a 'to what purpose',” Aloth explained. “The boundaries of this spell are defined by those of the original.”

Watcher looked thoughtful, her expression strangely shadowed and almost alien in the limited illumination provided by the glowing fiber optic strands in her hair. She tilted her head a little, then slowly reached out a hand and touched the drawing curiously. Edér would have tried to stop her, but he was too far away and neither of the mages seemed concerned. It didn't seem to matter anyway; she didn't jump as though it had shocked her, nor did it smudge under her finger. It wasn't glowing either; without the lightning, it was hard to make it out at all. Edér was amazed they hadn't walked right by it, though he supposed maybe it looked different if you were Awakened.

“So this is what's causing the Hollowborn,” Watcher said softly. She touched it again, almost wonderingly, then turned to Kana. “Could you trace it?”

“I can't say for sure, but it might be possible. Astral signatures take a long time to fade. But I wouldn't want to try it in this storm. It's hard to see anything astrally with the background pollution of the larger spell; the extra energy from the storm will make it nearly impossible.”

“And that's not even considering that they could use the energy of the storm against us,” Aloth added. He touched the drawing as well, though his touch was perfunctory, more clinical than admiring. “I wouldn't want to fight the person who did this over that power source.”

“Lady Webb only asked us to discover what was causing the Hollowborn, not who,” Pallegina pointed out. “I'd say we've done that.”

Watcher nodded. “You're right. Let's go report in.”

Edér had been bored at Dunryd Row only yesterday, but at the moment, he felt nothing but relief at the prospect of returning there. He felt like he'd been cold and wet for hours, probably because he had. His socks squelched inside his combat boots and the armored jacket he wore under the trench coat felt three times as heavy with all the water. As much as he tried to care about the job, all he really wanted was a hot shower and hot food somewhere that didn't smell of literal shit, followed by a long rest in that huge, cozy bed – preferably with company, but he wasn't feeling too picky at the moment. 

Watcher knew her team; she let them all split up to shower before they went to meet with Lady Webb. Of course, maybe that was just because she didn't want to brave the dragon dripping wet either, but it felt like courtesy just the same. They gathered in the dining room for lack of another common area and Watcher waited until they'd all arrived to contact Eydis.

Since it was Watcher, it felt less peculiar to see her address the empty air as though she expected it to respond. After all, so often in the past, it had. “Eydis, we'd like to make a report.”

As strange as everything and everyone associated with Dunryd Row had been, Edér half expected Eydis to just appear in their midst, maybe with a thunderclap and a cloud of smoke just for good measure. Instead she walked through the door just like a normal person.

Her bow this time was more perfunctory, but otherwise, she appeared identical to the other times they'd seen her. It was enough to make him wonder a little if she had a whole row of dresses, all the same. Or maybe she only had the one, but it was her designated dress for dealing with people working directly for Lady Webb and she spent the rest of her time in sweats; it wasn't like he could tell either way. 

Of course he didn't ask, just silently followed the others down the stairs and through the golden door, like some kind of mute accessory to Watcher.

Lady Webb still looked the same, too, but that was less surprising. No one knew how old the dragons were or if they aged at all, and of course she had no need for clothing. Her expression was impossible to read as she listened to Watcher's report, but maybe that was just because Edér wasn't a dragon.

She nodded slowly when Watcher had finished, however, and that was clear enough. “I see. But you don't know who cast this spell, nor why they have done so.”

“That's true,” Watcher agreed, “but that wasn't what you asked us to find out.” 

Lady Webb exhaled steam again, but she didn't breath fire or look ready to attack. “And if I asked you to do this as well, would you?”

“Yes, but we'd require additional payment, as it's a separate task.”

Lady Webb made a peculiar sound; it took Edér a minute to realize she might be laughing instead of preparing to eat Watcher and maybe the rest of them, too. “You have courage, I'll give you that much. More than most who have stood in your place. Very well, we have a deal.”

* * *

They spent the next day following Aloth and Kana around the Walled City again. They wandered so much that Edér was certain they were actually lost at least half the time, but at least it wasn't raining. By late afternoon, he was footsore and bored enough that he was starting to hope someone would actually try to start something. Not that he was so bloodthirsty or anything like that; he didn't require killing to have a good time. It would just make him feel less like a useless tagalong.

The second day started off much the same (Edér wasn't sure why it had taken more than one, but then he hadn't asked), but this time he got his wish. He'd seen some of the Yellow Lotus watching them the day before, but while they'd sometimes been blatantly obvious and even a bit obnoxious about it, they hadn't done more than that. 

Today, it seemed that had changed. They stared openly, trailing along behind and occasionally muttering the kinds of insults that they could pretend hadn't been meant to be overheard, but Edér was usually pretty good at ignoring that sort of thing, Pallegina and Sagani were even better, and Aloth and Kana were distracted. So they saw; they heard, but they did nothing.

After a couple of hours, it seemed their stalkers finally tired of the game. “Hey, you there!” One of them called out. “We hear you don't work for Kindly Cheng anymore.”

Watcher came back to join Edér and Pallegina, standing between and just a little behind them. “That's right.”

“And now you're spending a lot of time in the Walled City. It's enough to make me think maybe you're thinking about carving out some territory of your own.”

Edér held up his hands placatingly, though he knew it was wasted effort. “Easy, boys. It's nothing like that.”

Watcher backed him up, just like always. “That's right. We've got a job to do and then we'll be out of your way.”

“Well, _I_ think,” a different Yellow Lotus said, “that you're lying.”

“And even if you aren't, you insulted Kindly Cheng. That means you insulted us.”

If they'd ever had a chance to avoid a fight, that was the end of it. Of course, that hadn't truly been in doubt from the moment the Yellow Lotus had actually started talking to them, so Edér was already prepared, Yamaha Raiden drawn and ready under his coat. It wasn't really concealed like that, but this was the Walled City – no one was going to call the cops. Probably no one would even care. 

He raised it, braced it with his other hand, and fired at the apparent leader before he started looking for cover. Luckily the streets here were narrow and crowded with enough random trash that cover was easy to find; unluckily some of the muck he wound up kneeling in smelled so bad that if this job paid enough, he'd give some serious thought to just throwing these pants away rather than trying to wash them.

The Yellow Lotus weren't slouches, but if these guys had been all that good, they wouldn't have been working the Walled City. Pallegina and Itumaak cut them off and sliced them up and Edér finished off whatever was left, just like they'd done any number of times before. Which wasn't to say the Lotus didn't get in a shot or two, especially with Kana and Aloth still distracted by whatever they'd been doing here the past two days, but it was nothing a healing spell or a good medkit couldn't handle. 

Once the Yellow Lotus were dead, Edér and Sagani checked the bodies for credsticks and useful gear. It might seem cold, but it was a necessity in this line of work. You never knew when you might need to lay low for awhile and need every nuyen you could scrounge, plus an extra weapon or two never hurt. If you couldn't handle touching corpses, you didn't have much business as a shadowrunner to begin with.

But winning the fight was only the start of this battle. “Once the rest of the Yellow Lotus hear about this, they're going to keep coming. We can't keep coming back here, or we'll be lucky not to end up with a price on our heads.” As always, Sagani cut to the heart of the matter.

Watcher looked back over her shoulder at Aloth and Kana and hesitated, but she knew Sagani was right. “I'll tell them. One more day at the most. If we can't find this mage by then, we give up.”

Of course, that was fine in theory, but Edér had no idea how they were going to break it to Lady Webb. _This is why they warn you against dealing with dragons,_ he thought, though it might have been handier if the saying had offered some advice on how to avoid it. Dragons, after all, were pretty much an offer you couldn't refuse all on their own.

* * *

The next morning, Kana was yawning and Aloth looked even paler than usual, with huge dark circles under his eyes. Now that they had a time limit, they'd both obviously been up all night working on the problem.

“Well, that took longer than I'd hoped, but I think we've got it figured out.” Which would have counted for more if it were coming from someone less prone to baseless optimism than Kana, but was still better than nothing.

“What makes you so sure?” Pallegina asked suspiciously.

“Well, you see...” Kana began, but Edér tuned him out. Whatever the explanation was, it was far too early for it. Better that he drink his soycaf and plan strategy, just in case the Yellow Lotus attacked in force before they finished their business in the Walled City today.

He started paying attention again when Aloth spoke up, not because he thought Aloth was any more likely to be right, but because what he said was so odd. “And of course we'll have a better chance because this is the third day.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sagani asked, looking as skeptical as Edér felt.

“You've heard the saying that third time's the charm? With magic, that sort of superstition can have real meaning. Magical work is actually more likely to succeed on the third day.”

It sounded like a lot of hooey to Edér, the kind of thing people said to make themselves feel better about their chances when they knew they weren't very good. On the other hand, Aloth didn't usually seem to go in for that kind of thing, so maybe it was genuine after all.

Not that it mattered. Either way, this was their last day in the Walled City.

It started much like the other two: lots of wandering around the narrow shadowed streets feeling alternately like a conspicuous idiot who was wasting his time or like he had a target pasted on his back. Their path was so circuitous that he was starting to think the Walled City was a maze and they kept failing to solve it.

They were two hours in when it started to rain once more: not a storm, but not just a light shower either. This time, however, no one bothered to ask Watcher; they all knew they couldn't let that stop them. They pushed on. It must have been another hour or so before they came to an unexpected stop. Aloth and Kana conferred before leading them onward, but their steps were slower and they kept looking around as though they expected to be attacked at any moment. It was enough to make Edér nervous, too, and he didn't even know what he was supposed to be prepared for.

They turned a final corner and stopped again. Aloth pointed to a small figure huddled inside a large metal crate with one open side. It was too dark to make out any details; they were the merest hint of a vaguely metahuman-shaped darker shadow amidst all the others. “There. That's the mage who cast the spell.”

“ _That's_ who caused the Hollowborn?” Pallegina looked incredulous, but she wasn't the only one. This person looked completely pitiable; how could they have been capable of casting such a complicated spell? 

That initial impression didn't alter as they approached. Despite the size of their group and the noise they were making as they splashed through the growing oily puddles, the darker shadow inside the crate didn't move. Perhaps they hoped their stillness would keep them hidden; most likely it had worked before. This time, however, they wouldn't be overlooked; Aloth and Kana had seemed too certain for the rest of them to let doubts or pity overrule their accusation.

They paused by the crate, unsure how to safely get the attention of the person within. Walker settled on the simple solution of knocking on the top of the crate as though it were a door. Now the person inside moved, scrabbling farther back into a corner at first, then finally poking their head out when they didn't leave.

“What do you want?” With her face turned up to the dim light of a rainy day within the Walled City, she didn't look any more threatening than before. She was human and her hair was her most prominent feature from their vantage point standing over her: wet and mostly dark, silver strands threaded throughout the mass of it glinting as she turned her head. It had obviously not been combed in a long while and it hung in loose, dirty hanks about her shoulders. Her eyes were gray and one had only to glance at them to see that she was not entirely sane.

Watcher crouched down, then sat cross-legged on the filthy concrete so that she was on the same level as the strange woman. She was also sitting in a puddle, which had to be uncomfortable, but she didn't let that stop her. “We want to talk to you about the Hollowborn.”

“Hollowborn? What's that?” The woman tilted her head, looking from Watcher to the rest of them, still looming over her. Reluctantly, Edér lowered himself to the ground as well, but Watcher didn't answer the question until they were all seated, damp slowly seeping through any dry clothing they had left the longer they sat there.

“The children,” Watcher said. “The ones born without souls.”

“Oh.” The woman nodded. “You mean the ones I saved.”

“Saved?” Aloth burst out. “Have you seen what your spell has done?”

Watcher didn't even turn to look in his direction, just waved him to be quiet. “How did you save them?” she asked.

“You see what it is like here. You see how the children are growing up – if they grow up. It's not right.”

“Yes,” Watcher nodded gravely. “I've seen.”

“Then you know. The spirit, the spirit came to me and told me what to do, how I could save them. I can't stop them from being born, but I could stop them from ever having to know what it is to grow up in the Walled City. They live, but they don't suffer.”

“She must mean a toxic spirit,” Kana said quietly – well, quietly for Kana, which meant the woman had to have heard him. “But I doubt she had any way to know the difference.”

“She meant well,” Sagani replied. “I never thought the person who did something so terrible could, but it looks like I was wrong.”

The woman turned her head, following their conversation. “What do you mean: terrible? What do you know of it? You didn't grow up here!”

“No,” Sagani agreed. “I didn't. I'm from very far away. But I have children of my own. I imagine them being born like that and I can't describe it any other way: it's terrible. But while we've only spent a few days here, I understand why you did it.”

“What's all this talk of understanding?” Aloth snapped. “You saw that child! How is that any better?”

Watcher didn't reply, at least not to him. Instead, she addressed the woman, who had begun to shiver under the rags that appeared to be all the clothing she owned. “My companion raised a fair point. Have you seen the children that have been born since you cast this spell?”

“No.”

“You know that most of them end up in the harbor,” Aloth put in, ignoring Watcher's glare. "Their parents drown them rather than raise an empty shell."

“That's still better than the life they would have had!”

“Perhaps.” Watcher's voice was still calm, full of the soothing tones she only used at times such as this. She wasn't a gentle woman, but she could fake it when it was necessary. Or maybe it was the other way around – she _was_ gentle, but most of the time didn't dare show it. Edér was surprised to realize he wasn't certain which was actually the truth. 

“Maybe the kids aren't suffering. But what about their families?” he asked. 

The woman looked in his direction, her head turning rapidly like a bird. “What about them?”

“We saw a family trying to raise a Hollowborn infant,” Watcher explained. “They knew it wasn't right and they could have drowned it. But that mother still had hope for her child. She hadn't given up on it.”

“Then she's a fool.”

“Maybe she is, but do you really have the right to make that decision for her? Maybe most of the parents here would agree with you that their children are better off this way, but not all would, and your spell cannot discriminate.”

The toxic shaman tilted her head as thought listening to something. “No,” she said, shaking her head, though not in reply to Watcher. “I can't do that.” She listened a bit longer to the voice only she seemed able to hear, her quicksilver expressions the only guide they had to the conversation. Finally, she looked directly at Watcher. Her eyes were still mad, but now they were focused and intent, staring as though Watcher's face were the only thing she could see. 

“I'll do it. I'll do what you haven't asked and undo my spell. But you must do something for me.”

“I'm listening.”

“My spell is not the only one here. There's another, a spell I used to make mine stronger. That spell is the reason I cast mine. It's the one that makes the Walled City like this. It makes people desperate.”

Watcher nodded, her expression grave. She seemed perfectly serene, despite being soaked through and also talking to a crazy woman who might be able to kill them all if the voices she heard told her it was necessary. “Go on.”

“I can't undo that spell. Stealing power from it was the best I could do and even that couldn't change much. It's too old, too strong. But you're not like me. You can find a way.” 

“I'll try.”

The woman looked at Watcher, searching her face as though she might be able to read the future in it. At last, she sat back and nodded. “All right. Then I'll lift the spell.”

Watcher nodded and got to her feet. “Thank you.”

Before they left, Edér offered her, this homeless but clearly powerful shaman who had never even given them a name, his coat. It was wet, but it still had to be warmer than anything she had on. The woman just stared at it as though she'd never seen a coat before, so finally he shrugged and draped it around her shoulders.

“Someone's just going to take it from her, you know,” Sagani pointed out as they were walking away.

Edér shrugged. “Maybe. But I couldn't stand to see her shiver. Maybe now she'll be warm, at least for a little while.”

Aloth ignored them as well as the shaman watching them go, looking small and a bit lost in Edér's too-large coat, and looked quizzically at Watcher. “Do you think you can trust her?”

Back at Dunryd Row, Lady Webb asked the same question and Watcher gave her the same response she'd given Aloth, word-for-word: “We'll know soon enough.”

“That we will. An interesting solution you arrived at. Many, perhaps most, would have killed her.”

Watcher met the dragon's gaze with apparent equanimity, despite the fact that just one of Lady Webb's eyes was larger than Watcher's entire head. How she managed that, Edér would never know. “It didn't seem to be necessary.”

“We shall see. Still, I am pleased with your performance. You are, of course, welcome to fulfill your promise on your own time.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It seems to me that you still need an employer. If you're willing, I have another task for you.”

* * *

Edér was still awake when Watcher came to his room that night, trying to read an actual paper book he'd found in one of the rooms down here. So far, it was a thoroughly strange experience. There was plenty to like about living at Dunryd Row, but he didn't think he'd ever get used to the way it made him feel like they were living in the previous century.

“Good book?” Watcher asked as she got into the bed and curled up beside him.

“I'm not sure.” He set it aside and really looked at her for what felt like the first time in days. Watcher looked tired, her dark skin ashy and her eyes shadowed with exhaustion. “It's been a weird week.”

She just nodded, so he kept going. “That woman – you ever wonder if she might have been right?”

“You saw that baby.” It wasn't an answer, but he knew what she meant. He'd seen it and the sight had nearly made him sick. That empty body was so deeply _wrong_ that it evoked a visceral response in anyone who saw it. He was amazed any of the parents had been able to keep their Hollowborn children, much less feed and care for them.

“I know. But then I think of all those all kids whose parents tried to sell them to us and wonder about what's going to happen to them, and then I'm not sure.”

Watcher nodded again, somehow looking even more tired. “Yeah. Me either.”


End file.
